A few questions

First off, hello to everyone, this is truly an amazing site, so much info. I'm writing because I'm going on a trip within a month or so to Australia (and much, much later on, Asia). I'm not going to be doing any extreme, long-term backpacking/climbing while I'm there. However, I'll be living a very mobile lifestyle. I'll be tramping about, staying at hostels, friends' couches, and hopefully getting a job there. I'll still plan on doing trips while I'm there, once I leave, and once I come back to the States.

So, I come to you know with questions in regards to my pack. In this situation I would prefer not travel with a massive duffel bag. I would prefer to have this pack be durable...traveling like this can still be demanding on gear. I was looking at a number of brands/packs:

Osprey Crescent 85/110 (Heard great things about the 85, pretty good thins about the 110, although I know they have moved production to Asia...)
Marmot Astralplane/Teraplane (Prob won't go with these guys as Marmot is sunsetting them and I've heard not so good things about quality post DD.)
Arc'Teryx Bora 95/90 (I've heard great things about it.)
Gregory Whitney (Ditto)
Just heard about Macpac, need some more info.
And I know about the cream of packs (Kifaru, MR, McHale). I once saw an older BDSB for sale that I will always regret not picking up. I saw an old Kelty Cloud (the spectra kind) up there very, very recently.

Those are really the packs I'm looking at, although if you sages suggest something a bit lower end for me (Kelty). So, any suggestions? Comments? Criticisms? Insults? All are welcome! And I thank you in advance for your time.

(More info: I have a visa to be in Australia for up to a year. I'm going to be moving about, so no suitcase or duffel. Will try to go to Asia or Israel afterwards. Figure only clothes and personal effects (shoes/sandals/sneakers, sunglasses). No tents, one sleeping bag, toiletries. Pretty basic stuff.)

Yoni, this site is really a backpacking and hiking site, not a general travel site, so the advice you get here will be from that perspective.

Having said that, I spent six months in NZ with a far smaller pack than you mention-about 3000 c.i. and I had a tent, bag, etc. as well as a touring mountain bike with panniers, bike spares, etc. I really had two sets of gear-for the bike and for on foot.

I met several world travelers on that trip and they all had smaller, mid-size packs. Big packs are a pain, literally, to carry and load onto buses, taxis, cars, etc. A medium size panel loader, such as the Granite Gear Nimbus FZ 3800 would be my choice. This pack is a bit heavy, but is made well and looks like it can take some abuse. I have only seen GG packs in the store, but they get rave reviews from many users.

Get something without a lot of external pockets and straps-they just catch on luggage racks, airline conveyors, etc. and could get torn off. For airline travel, put your pack in a cheap, light duffle to keep the pack from getting chewed up. Cheaper the better-it will get trashed at some point in time.

GG makes lighter packs with similar features, but my experience is that traveling is harder on packs than backpacking, where you know every minute where the pack is. Luggage handlers, airlines and such really don't care all that much if your pack is so light it needs special handling-not their problem.

Other brands-MacPac-high quality,I have a MacPac sleeping bag; Arctery'x-high quality, very pricey and heavy, I had a Bora 80 and sold it after one trip-too heavy and didn't really fit me right; Kelty Cloud- a friend has one and loves it, expensive, even when used (about $750 new); don't know about the rest; I have tried on some of them, but that is about it.

Plan on buying and selling, giving away, or shipping home seasonal clothes like winter parkas, etc. that you won't need for some of the trip.